The invention relates to a heavy-duty lift truck which is designed as a mast-based apparatus having a mast, wherein a load picking-up means is disposed so that it can be raised and lowered on the mast and the heavy-duty lift truck is arranged at least for a maximum load capacity of 8 t, wherein the heavy-duty lift truck comprises a power train with a travelling drive.
Heavy-duty lift trucks in terms of the present invention are vehicles which are used for handling heavy loads such as containers, in particular ISO containers, or unit loads in particular in container terminals. For this purpose such heavy-duty lift trucks are arranged for maximum load capacities of at least 8 t and up to 52 t.
Heavy-duty lift trucks generally comprise at their front end a mast serving as a lifting frame and extending substantially vertically and are thus also designated mast-based apparatuses. A load picking-up means is disposed in such a way that it can be raised and lowered along the mast at the front face of the heavy-duty lift truck and in particular at the front face of the mast.
When the heavy-duty lift truck is used as a container stacker the load picking-up means is generally referred to as a spreader which is also designated a spreader frame and can be fastened, e.g. via so-called twist locks, to standardised corner fittings of the containers to be picked up. Furthermore, in relation to container stackers, it is possible to distinguish between empty container stackers for handling empty ISO containers and full container stackers for handling ISO containers. Empty container stackers are arranged for a maximum load capacity of 8 t to 10 t and full container stackers for a maximum load capacity of 30 t to 40 t.
Alternatively, the heavy-duty lift truck can also be designed as a fork lift truck with a load picking-up means formed by fork arms. Furthermore, the load picking-up means can be designed in the form of coil tangs, magnets or locking clamps. In the case of such heavy-duty lift trucks, the maximum load capacity is 15 t to 52 t.
The heavy-duty lift trucks encompassed by the present invention are to be distinguished, on the basis of the above-described structure, in particular from straddle carrier devices which are also known as straddle carriers e.g. from the German laid-open document DE 10 2011 001 847 A1. In contrast to straddle carrier devices with load picking-up means disposed between the front and rear end of the spider-leg construction thereof, heavy-duty lift trucks cannot travel over a container or a container stack in order to pick up or set down a container but can only approach a side, in particular the long side, of a container or container stack.
The heavy-duty lift trucks in terms of the present invention are also to be distinguished from so-called reach stackers since these have no mast serving as a lifting frame but rather a jib which is generally telescopic and is oriented forwards in an inclined manner, a corresponding load picking-up means being fastened to the tip thereof. In this connection, the changeable angle between an upright and the jib is generally not less than about 20 degrees. Reach stackers with electric drives are known e.g. from CN 103 350 954 A and CN 103 359 619 A.
Furthermore, such heavy-duty lift trucks are to be distinguished from conventional fork lift trucks which are not designed or arranged to handle the above-mentioned loads and load capacity ranges. A fork lift truck of this type with a hydraulic drive is known from DE 10 2008 029 141 A1. Further fork lift trucks are known e.g. from DE 10 2008 022 487 A1, DE 10 2006 030 945 A1, DE 10 2004 028 620 A1 and DE 10 2008 058 847 A1.
From the Terex brochure “ACES FOR YOUR STACK” the operation of a heavy-duty lift truck designed as an empty container stacker by diesel-hydraulic means is known. The power train of such a heavy-duty lift truck conventionally comprises, for its travelling drive, a diesel engine and a power take-off gear which is operatively connected to a converter and an automatic transmission in order to drive the driving axle.